Benefits

Ferris State’s Admissions Office leads the university’s recruitment efforts, including processing applications, aiding future students secure financial aid, and helping equip them for life on campus.

The Admissions Office is staffed by a mix of full-time professionals and student admissions representatives. Work for admissions staff is characterized by high call volumes both inbound and outbound. This covers calling campaigns to reach student prospects within and outside Michigan, promotion of campus activities, financial aid assistance, and ensuring future students are on track to attend Ferris State the following enrollment period.

“We have more than one system where we keep student data. The different departments, even within admissions, were using different screens within Banner which is our student information system. We in admissions recruiting and our students in the call center were noting calls within Salesforce which is our CRM,” shares Jessica Davison, Coordinator for Communications and Visitor services at Ferris.

“In a perfect world, we really wanted everybody to just jump on Salesforce or be able to jump on Banner and put notes in the same spot. But because of security reasons, our student callers can’t necessarily have access to certain screens within Banner that our financial aid staff can,” Davidson adds.

Ferris State’s Admissions Office needed updated call notes on each student record to expedite future calls and allow them to build relationships with prospects instead of spending time asking students to repeat and verify information. With the need to receive and make anywhere from 200 to 500 calls each day, the wasted time slowed the teams down.

Jeff Stewart, Assistant Director of Admissions Recruitment at Ferris State describes their previous call logging process as “difficult.” “It was just very time-consuming and tedious at times to have to put it in different areas so that people could run reports off of it, or people could actually see what the result of our calling has been.”

The office began looking for a solution. According to Davidson, they wanted a system that would allow them to log notes on a call where everyone would see. It was also important to them that it wouldn’t cause a drastic change in their current workflow. Also of utmost importance is finding a solution that would integrate with Salesforce and allow them to keep their current Avaya phone system.

With these requirements in mind, the office began their search for a feature-rich CTI system.

Solution: User-friendly full-feature CTI

“When we were looking at the demo through Tenfold, everything seemed very easy to use, the interface was easy, and nobody had to do extra work to be able to use it besides logging in every day,” Davidson says. “It puts everything that we need to know about that student in one spot, and our student representatives are able to access that same screen.”

Tenfold also satisfied Ferris State’s IT requirements. According to Sam Fattore, manager of enrollment technical services, “We picked Tenfold because of the compatibility with Salesforce. They allowed us to actually keep our 1-800 number, which was one of the biggest factors for us.”

Angela Garreyn, Associate Director of Admissions Recruitment shares, “Tenfold also had all the features we were looking for. It was a great match for us from a financial standpoint as well.”

Tenfold really made helping students more efficient. It’s put everything that we need to know about that student in one spot, and our student representatives are able to access that same screen.

— Jessica Davison Coordinator for Communications and Visitor Services Ferris State University

Benefits: Efficient call workflow, auto-logging, calling in-context

Ferris State Admissions has been a Tenfold customer for more than a year and a half. The office uses Tenfold in their entire call workflow, from dialing out using click-to-dial to logging calls into Salesforce through the Tenfold popup, and using the Tenfold dashboard to track call analytics and measure inbound and outbound calling performance.

“We have three separate teams on Tenfold right now,” shares Davidson. “Before Tenfold, we spent a lot more time trying to solve problems that really would’ve been solved had we just known who talked to that person and what they said to them. We now have that data within the student record in Salesforce.”

Stewart, on the other hand, says that the popup is very useful in his daily activities. “I love that it just pops right up.”

“It’s just really about that relationship building with that student. I can already look at all of the information about that student, get a good idea of who that student is, even before I pick up the phone,” he says. Click-to-dial has also decreased their error rates, he adds.

Garreyn, who oversees the recruitment team, also shares, “From the recruitment standpoint, productivity increased because of the pieces of Tenfold. The popup, click-to-dial, and the information coming in have made the recruiters’ jobs easier.”

Omar Gonzalez, Coordinator of Recruitment, says that the ability to log call notes while in-call has allowed them to reach more students in a shorter amount of time. “I can do it right away automatically while the phone call is in session. When I’m done, Tenfold logs it in, and I move on to the next one.”

Student admissions representatives or STARs also share that their jobs have become easier since using Tenfold.

STAR Carlton Thompson says, “Finding student numbers is a lot more efficient. It sped up the process of figuring out who is calling. Once we have that information, we can answer almost any question that they have, or be able to direct them to the proper people.”

Diana, also a STAR, says that before Tenfold, a call usually lasts about 3 minutes. “With Tenfold, it takes me a minute or two because I can easily access their profile,” she adds.

Shari Chamberlain, Admissions Transfer Counselor, says her favorite Tenfold feature is the Tenfold dashboard. “The dashboard shows us when we receive a lot of calls from students. It helps everyone realize what time of day are the peak calling hours. It’s making us more efficient. I’m spending hours of my day doing the things I need to be doing.”

As for the implementation process, Davidson says that it was “very simple” and “very easy.”

Fattore adds that “ Within a few minutes, we were able to work with Tenfold support and get everything up and running. So far, we have been fairly issue-free.”

When it comes to customer support, he shares, “Any issues that have come up, we contact support and they’re resolved literally within a few minutes.”

From the recruitment standpoint, productivity increased because of the pieces of Tenfold. The popup, click-to-dial, and the information coming in have made the recruiters’ jobs easier.